Member Reviews

Star-Crossed is one of the funniest series I've encountered in a long time! As a fan of boy bands and Junko's previous series "Kiss Him, Not Me," I was immediately drawn to the series and boy did it not disappoint! The bizarre caricature of god as this tiny bumbling old man is sure to ruffle some feathers, but I'm not sure the type to get their feathers ruffled would be the ones reading this. I need the rest of this series in my life. Highly suggested for all libraries!

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Okay first of all... How could they end the manga like that?! I am sooo curious now and disappointed that I don't have the second part. Don't worry it isn't a cliffhanger ending, just a curious one (which seems to be worse than cliffhanger lol).

I really liked reading this particular manga! I gotta admit that it is quite different from the manga I have read so far and it didn't disappoint me! The artwork was really done well and I gotta say it was cute. The plot was a unique one, I mean we would know in the subsequent parts whether it uses any similar, popular tropes or not, but there was a lot of potential I could see developing in the further parts. I don't know if it is only me but both the main characters seemed a bit silly lol which no doubt was amusing and wanted me to explore the book further. I am excited to see how the story progresses!

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I really wanted to like this story. Artwork is great, the story flowed, but it was the same generic body swap story. It was too bland for me and not original.

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What will happen when your soul is swapped with your celebrity crush? Star Crossed is a sweet, funny story of a celebrity and his die heart fan, whose souls are swapped by mistake. Now, these two have to work hard to keep this secret and get on with their lives. I enjoyed reading this story, the art is beautiful and I loved the illustrations. If you are looking for a short, sweet, and feel-good manga, this is the one for you..

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Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fluffy and fun little book. The story follows our main characters as they switch bodies and try to stay on top of the situation as things turn into chaos. It is really cute and funny, with a pretty art style, and lovable characters.

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Review to come March 10 to blog/goodreads/amazon.

I received this manga from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

I am quite a fan of Junko's work (still really need to get on with reading Kiss Him not Me) and so I was delighted when I bumped against this one on Netgalley. I just had to click request!

Meet fangirl Azusa, she LOVE LOVE LOVES Chika-kun of the idol group: Prince 4 U! One day during a concert (also who the hell needs cutlery or something for their car when they have no car, seriously I get loving an idol but that was just weird) she saves his life and dies along with him. That sucks right? Save your idol but die as well? Well, thankfully God is there and sends them back... with a few malfunctions. Like switching bodies. Haha. Yep. Though I was a bit sad given that the blurb specifies that they have to kiss to switch back/forth, but actually they haven't found out the one ingredient to switch back or figured out why they keep changing bodies. Yep, they just randomly change bodies (or would that mean soul?). I had quite a laugh at how it randomly seemed to happen and how they were trying to figure out what was going on. God definitely not helped, just sent them messages that they were working on it. In the mean time Chika-kun doesn't make such a fuss about being in Azusa's body while Azusa goes full fangirl mode.

I wasn't always a fan of Azusa. While I liked Chika-kun immediately as he was very likeable and sparkly and fun, and stayed relatively calm despite now being in a girl's body. Whereas Azusa was just too much for me. Her fangirling was just borderline, no wait, skip that, over the line creepy. I mean seriously, she keeps having a nosebleed and says all sorts of things that just creeped me out. Yes, girl, you are in the body of your favourite idol, but eww, no just no. I was already happy that she had respect for him in a way, aka not immediately stripping him. She respected that line at least. I seriously thought she would just strip out Chika-kun's clothes for a chance to see him (or herself in this case) naked. I am glad that at times we also saw another Azusa, but yeah, the fangirl Azusa can just leave the premise for all I care. Or tone down. A lot.

But I guess it does help that the one you change bodies with knows your songs and movements. Though there is still enough that shows people there is something wrong with Chika-kun. But she tries and I like that. It mustn't be easy going from normal school girl to idol with just a poof.

I am glad with the ending and I had quite a laugh how that person eventually believed our duo. That is one way to get someone to believe. Haha, I cannot wait to see what this will mean for our duo, will this make things easier?

I am not sure how I felt about the portrayal of God as an idiot/clumsy old man. I mean, I am religious and I am open for some things, but this just felt a bit too much at time, especially with how angry they got at him and kept cursing at him (which to be fair is fair but it just got on the wrong side for me).

The bonus manga was fun, but for someone who hasn't read the whole Kiss Him Not Me series it was quite confusing.

All in all, I really laughed and enjoyed this first volume. Yes, there were things I didn't particularly like... but in overall good volume. Interesting premise. I like that it isn't just kissing, because frankly that just isn't original and can get very cringy. I liked the art, especially the boys. Junko is good at drawing boys! :) I cannot wait for the next volume!

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I received my copy for an honest review from NetGalley.

The premise of this manga was tropey and so while I expected a lot of what was going on I did hope that the mangaka would turn some of the tropes on their head. That still may happen later on, this issue stayed pretty close to the tropes.

The art is rather pretty and it's lighthearted and fun. I will be giving this series at least another volume but if it doesn't catch me then I may not continue it moving forward.

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Thanks to the author, publisher nd NetGalley for the book in exchange for review.
'Star-crossed' the title makes you think of a destined romantic duo. I also thought so. But when I started reading it, I was surprised. Never have I imagined the life of a fan girl and her celebrity crush interwined this way. It was interesting.

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*DISCLAIMER* I received a free copy of this book for review purposes. I only accept books I think I’d like because life is too short to waste on bad books. That said if I don’t like a book, I’ll say so, free or not. Onto the review:

Main cast of characters:
Azusa Asahina - Fangirl extraordinaire
Fumi - boy next door, childhood friend, obviously has a huge crush on Azusa — but that doesn’t seem to be obvious to Azusa
P4U - band
Chikasha Chida - Azusa’s fave member of P4U - a musical God in her eyes


One line review:
It’s Freaky Friday for k-pop stans.

Slightly longer review:

Azusa is a super fangirl of the band P4U, and more specifically of Chikasha Chida. He’s Azusa’s fave. A musical god. And then Azusa finds herself with a front row seat on the night of a stage accident. When she tries to help, both she and Chikasha end up facing their mortality and a body swap. As God sets out to figure out how to fix this mess, the two have to live as each other.

How do you shower in someone else’s body? What if that body is that of one of your idols? Or of a fan? What if you have to sing and dance in someone else’s body? What if you change back at random and don’t know why or how? That’s how Azusa and Chikasha Spend the book. Bouncing back and forth between their own bodies and each others.

There is no solution by the end, but there are signs that one is in the works. I’d gladly read volume 2.

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Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a fluffy shojo read! I loved the main character! I was scared to not like her upright attitude so to say but I actually really enjoyed her personality throughout the manga. I loved the whole concept of star meets "ordinary" (hate that word lol) but I did expect it when loking at the cover already. However it had many good plot lines and I loved the perhaps future love triangle that might happen? I mean it's open for it haha.

Definitely recommend!

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The premise of this manga sounded intriguing but I wasn't 100% sure if I would like it just because it's around a fan and band which I sometimes dislike. However, the whole body swapping scenario reminded me of freaky friday and so I was down to read this and was very hopeful. But it wasn't for me sadly.

I felt like this was ok, but their intial body switch was very short and they switched back in a very cliche way. Then when another switch happened not long after I wasn't that interested and I felt like it was all very predictible (switching on stage and having to finish performing). The ending left me confused and while it does kind of make me want to pick up the second volume, I don't think it's something I'd rush out to get or purchase it. If I found future volumes in the library I'd maybe pick it up but it's not a priority.

If you enjoy fangirling and 'hot' boy band member being dramatic about everything then you may like this but it wasn't for me unfortunately.

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On an aesthetic note, the art is beautiful! I especially love the screentone shading. As for the plot, it’s a bit goofy, but fun and seems to be building up to more serious notes and subjects. God seems to be the ultimate shipper when it comes to this pair, and I like that there seems to be a realistic approach to these two people switching bodies. At one point, Azu (the young woman) has trouble keeping her balance in a taller body with longer legs. Am I just a weak romantic for being excited for the next volume? Maybe. But, I also have an inkling that we’re going to move into more complex issues and situations as this pair get to know each other better from the inside out.

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<i>arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

I originally thought this would be an actual star-crossed lovers sort of manga but this turned out to be so much more than that! This was hilarious!

We follow two people, Azusa who is a super fangirl of this idol group P4U and we follow one of the members, Azusa’s favourite, Chika. They both get into an accident at one of his concerts that results in their death but God sends them back to earth, alive once more but.. with a twist. They continuously switch bodies!

This was a hilarious story, especially when they were in each other’s bodies and had to manage life like that. I do wish we got to see more of a friendship forming between them. We got a little sparkle of it but it kept getting overshadowed by all of Azusa’s fangirling.

Overall, I had a blast reading this one and flew through it. It was a super light-hearted read!

3/5 ⭐️

TW: death.

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I am a sucker for comedies, especially those with bold characters that wear their heart on a sleeve. Star-Crossed does this through a Freaky Friday situation where an idol – Chika – and his obsessive fan – Azusa – switch bodies after a freak accident mid-concert. The latter, Azusa, is the anchor of this whole narrative. When I say she is obsessive, she really is for two reasons. First, her dedication to Chika is charming albeit unhealthy – she is a popular, academically inclined student for the sake of Chika’s existence while unafraid to physically assault God for accidentally killing the universe’s most beloved being. Second, her hyperbolic expressions make for most of the comedy – soft, round, and sloppy in her moments of heightened bliss; ragged, hollow, and heavy when frustrated. What surprised me while reading this was that it echoed the very same beats and character charm to Kae Serinuma of Kiss Him, Not Me, and to my surprise, both works were done by the same author – Junko. One can definitely make the argument that without Azusa – as well as her respective compatriot of Junko’s previous work Serinuma – this work would be threadbare. However with an expressive character like Azusa comes her grounded foil, Chika. Junko shows how crazed Azusa is through Chika’s reactions from seeing her numerous posters covering the walls of her room and the frequent nosebleeds that come with close contact. His role is just as important as Azusa in terms of the plot moving forward – after all, they do switch bodies. And with every great first volume, it leaves me wanting more, curious about where it will unfold. I love Kiss Him, Not Me and I am very glad to jump on board onto another helping of a delightful fanatic indulging on her carnal desires.

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I will be honest, I think I had higher expectations for this. Its probably because of Kiss Him not Me the author's previous work was so good. It has the same feel of Kiss Him not Me in the otaku aspect of things and the rock star aspect was awesome too. However, I was not a fan of the friendship/relationship between the characters plus the body-switching aspect although I thought the reasoning was pretty cool, it was too strange/silly for my personal liking plus the opening for a sequel sigh that made things even worse. Because of these points, I have to give this volume a 3 out of 5 stars

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thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this eARC.

this was so cute!! i love romance contemporary manga so much with how absurd and most times predictable it is but somehow it manages to make it all entertaining! loved this a lot.

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I was looking forward to reading this manga. But felt let down a bit by the reason of the body swaps and the main character’s obsessive nature over an idol. Though, it did have funny moments in there especially when the body-swapping happens. I can see how people can enjoy this manga. :)

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Thank you so much for letting me read and review this. This was a very cute read for the first volume. I seriously can’t wait to read from this story and author. The art is gorgeous and the characters are diverse and fun to learn about. The story is developing well and I can’t wait to see what comes next with them.

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This one was quite funny. For the moment, it isn’t much of a romance as it only goes one way but the concept is hilarious. Azusa is hilarious, I really like her. I didn’t care too much for Chika in this volume (please Azusa, don’t kill me, I take it back) but I’m sure I’ll come to love him. It’s just that Azusa’s personality takes some much place in this volume, there was none left for Chika’s. Plus the art is so pretty and so expressive; I laugh literally just because of the art.
I can’t wait for the next volume. It was just so much fun. I definitely recommend it.
4.5/5

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This manga is so much fun!!

Azuza is a huge Fan of popular Idol group Prince 4 U's Chika. She finally scored front row tickets to one of their concerts when an accidnet results in Azuza and her favorite idol switching bodies!

This body switching manga is hilarious! As an idol fan myself I really enjoyed the idol elements in this manga. Azuza's dedication to her idol is something I could really relate to. I saw so much of myself in her! The idol elements were really fun too! Seeing their concerts, and idol activities was like looking into my own idol fangirl life.

This manga is so hilarious. I found myself laughing at all of the incredibly hilarious situations Chika and Azuza got themselves into because of the body switching.

It's an absolutely bonkers manga that just had me smiling the whole time. It's so much fun. There is an air of mystery while they try to figure out what triggers their body switching and how to go back and that really gets me wanting the next volume. I am so excited to see where Azuza and Chika end up!

[A Digital copy of this manga was provided to me free through Net Galley]

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